after an earthquake rattled nerves in several states. and cash for gadhafi. rebels now offering a huge bounty and even amnesty for anyone who kills moammar gadhafi as the embattled dictato remains nowhere to be found. plus, no details about the newest iphone and newest cell phone carrier to carry the most popular smartphone in the world. >> hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. "newsnation" is following the developing news on hurricane irene. the category 3 storm is already forcing evacuations. in fact, look at this. thousands of people are leaving their homes. this is in north carolina's outer banks. the storm could slam into north carolina by this weekend, and right now irene is whipping 115-mile-per-hour winds through the bahamas after leaving hundreds of people homeless in the dominican republic. where exactly irene will strike

certainly remains uncertainch the entire east coast though through massachusetts is within the storm's path, and many people, as you see in this video, they are preparing for the worst, securing their homes and stocking up on supplies. meteorologist vivian brown is tracking the storm for us from the weather channel's headquarter in atlanta. vivian, what is the latest information we've received? >> i'll tell you, tamron, this is the monster storm that we are bracing ourselves for along the east coast. as you mentioned, it is moving across the central bahamas right now. we have the newest 2:00 advisory. the winds have been upped from 115 to 120 miles an hour now. it is still a category 3, and a very, very strong hurricane. we're anticipating very extensive damage across the central bahamas with these 120-mile-an-hour winds. in fact, as it moves closer to nassau, the winds could increase even more so making it a category 4 with expected 135-mile-an-hour winds. a very, very dangerous storm as

it moves across the central into the northern bahamas. again, extensive and devastating wind damage expected here. destructive storm surge could be a problem as well as flooding over the area. now once it moves north of the bahamas on friday, we're expecting it to possibly weaken a little bit, but it will still be a category 3 hurricane, making it a major hurricane, as it approaches here the outer banks of north carolina. the coastal areas of virginia. look at the time frame. we're talking from saturday into sunday morning as it comes a little farther north up the east coast, maybe moving into the new york city area, eastern pennsylvania, all the way into new england as we go through sunday and monday. so the entire northeast coast and the mid-atlantic needs to brace for this very, very devastating hurricane. we're talking about locally heavy rain, leading to flooding, and, of course, with any landfalling tropical systems

there's potential for tornadic activity also and the strong winds. power outages are expected all over the region, and as you know, tamron, we're talking about devastation possibly here with catastrophic conditions affecting some 50 million people. >> so many people affected by this, vivian. thank you very much for the latest. let's go to emerald isle, north carolina where neighbors's kerry sanders is standing by with us for the latest. >> reporter: it's actually a beautiful day here on emerald isle here in north carolina, and the folks here are, of course, irene is back that way about 900-plus miles, but they are also paying attention to, well, first, especially tourists as to whether they will have to leave, and local residents waiting to determine whether they are going to have to take action. the grocery stores are not full of people, sort of cleaning them out with supplies. haven't seen any shutters going up, but that likely could happen later today when people get a better idea of the path that irene is going to take. i've spoken to craig fugate with

the fema, federal emergency management agency, and he says that he is notifying and keeping the white house aware of all of the developments, including the initial evacuations that are taking place on ocracoke island here on north carolina where this morning they told tourists you'll have to leave and tomorrow the remaining 800 residents who live on that island will be told that they have to leave, but also telling the white house that they need it be aware because the president is on vacation on martha's vineyard, and it's possible the effects of irene could be felt right there as well. so right now folks are watching what's happening, and they are waiting to determine what course of action they will have to take. >> the u.s. geological survey says the aftershocks from

yesterday's earthquake ranged from 2.2 to 4.2, the most recent in fact happening earlier today. yesterday's quake was centered in the small town of mineral, virginia, where there was damage to the town hall and other places there, and the quake was felt in 22 states in canada, from georgia, north to montreal and as far west as chicago. meantime, 80 miles from the epicenter, the washington monument is closely -- they are watching because of cracks actually found in the monument. the national cathedral is also closed because of damage. next's luke russert joins us live now from the capital mall in washington. what's the latest there, luke? >> reporter: well, tamron, a day after the earthquake hit, it pretty much was business as usual here in washington, d.c. however, a lot of federal agencies were closed today. the department of agriculture, labor and homeland security, to name a few. a lot of federal employees were given the able to telecommute if they wanted. if you're coming down here to washington, a lot of monuments have reopened. however, two have not.

specifically the one you mentioned, the washingtonman umt behind me. it stands 555 tall. there are sizable cracks that to the naked eye you can't see but when you will be at them with our high powered lens of our cameras they are noticeable on the western facade of the monument. no timetable as to when it's reopening and the national cathedr cathedral, a 9/11 memorial service coming up in a couple of weeks, the center tower, three of the four pinnacles have been damaged and no inclination as to when that will reopen. the metro system here in washington. that reopened this morning and is going along fine. if you want to know how it's different, on my way into work around the capital, 8:30, 9:00 this morning, usually there's traffic. none today so a lot of folks taking the option to telecommute. one interesting caveat, we heard from folks at national zoo that

in fact the first mammals to know about the earthquake happening, the red legemers squeaking in alarm. >> if we spoke lemur, that that would be useful. >> reporter: you can find somebody at 30 rock to speak lemur, i'm sure. >> and there's a gala for the mlk memorial which we know is going to be a big weekend there. >> that's right. >> and i guess the gala was moved as a result of the damage as well. so a lot of things affected. >> reporter: the national building museum, very close and andrea mitchell, expecting 500 people for the martin luther king dedication on the 28th. that gala was moved, but that memorial is intact so if you're coming to that, come on down. plenty of hotel rooms available. >> "newsnation" will be live from washington, d.c. tomorrow. thanks, luke. thanks for the report.

let's bring in a seismologist from cal tech. thank you so much for joining us. aftershocks have been felt as early as this morning, are we beyond the point of more aftershocks? >> well, aftershocks can always occur, but they become less frequent with time as we get away from the quake. >> these aftershocks are 2.2 to 4.2. is that usual? >> normally the largest aftershock is a little bit more than one point less than the main shock, so this is -- this is maybe a little bit on the low side for an aftershock sequence, but it's certainly within the expected range. >> and kate, looking at the past 24 hours what, stands out to you most as obviously one of the big experts, sizemologist on these kinds of events? >> well, this is a good illustration of something that we have known for a long time, and that is that quakes on the east coast are felt over a much wider area than they are in california. we have so many faults up here that it breaks up the seismic

energy as it travels away from the earthquake, but in the east coast that doesn't happen so much so that's why people are reporting having felt it as far as canada and georgia. >> yeah. also they are talking about the quake in colorado before, what we saw on the east coast. we also got word of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in peru shaking the capital there. whenever you have these types of events people wonder if there is a connection. what is your answer? >> well, they are too far away. i mean, colorado is unusual, but peru is not unusual to have a 6 in peru. that's a very seismically active area. any time we would have a quake anywhere, can you look on the earthquake history and can you see something going on there. >> but you say colorado, that one got a lot of buzz and traction yesterday. obviously people discussing the -- the fact that it is, as you say, unusual. >> what's the question? >> the colorado quake, that it's attracted attention and people wondering if not the one in peru

being connected, then the one in colorado. >> oh, i see it's at least 2,000 miles separate geographically so i don't think there's any chance that one could be triggering the other. >> kate hutton, a seismologist over at cal tech. greatly appreciate you joining us. 24 hours after things were certainly shaking around this time. thank you, kate. >> oh, thank you. >> and we have some breaking news. a manhunt is under way right now for a suspect police say shot and killed one person at a wells fargo bank in northern california. the contra county sheriff's department says a police officer was also wounded in this. the suspect is considered armed and dangerous. we'll continue to follow you this breaking news and bring you any developments. up next, dead or alive. libyan rebels place a bounty on moammar gadhafi. find out how much they are offering for the capture of the dictator who is still missing. we'll get a live report from tripoli, and a new investigation reveals how the nypd has been working in secret with the cia, actually even staging undercover anti-terror missions without the

knowledge of the police department or even the fbi. the reporter who probing this story will join us. plus, it is the news many have been waiting for, the latest cell phone provider to reportedly carry the new iphone 5. they say it's just a couple of months away. we'll tell you which carrier. has a lot of people happy. "newsnation" is coming back after a quick break. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business -- it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities, so we're helping them with advice from local business experts and extending $18 billion in credit last year.

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a $2 million bounty is now being offered for the arrest or killing of moammar gadhafi. he's nowhere to be found after rebels ransacked his sprawling compound in tripoli yesterday, but he's not been silent. reportedly the voice of gadhafi

broadcast today by local television in libya. he vows to fight, quote, until victory of martyr dom. meantime we just got these pictures in from inside gadhafi's compound, showing the ransacked rooms with debris scattered all over the place. nbc's chief correspondent richard angel joins me live from tripoli. you have rebels who want to see gadhafi brought to justice but this bounty of $1 million entices anyone to go after him. >> reporter: it certainly does. there is a manhunt under way for gadhafi. you have to remember it took months for american forces to find saddam hussein, so it is very difficult to find a single individual here and no one really knows where gadhafi is. there's speculation that he's still inside tripoli. at one stage earlier today the rebels thought that they had cornered gadhafi and that they were engaged in a gun fight just south of tripoli. those reports turned out to be untrue. now with this bounty put out, it

just adds to that idea that gadhafi is a fugitive. he's a man on the run. almost in a way gadhafi himself has become a rebel. >> and at this point, richard, who would be willing to help gadhafi seeing that the rebels have been able to go inside the compound, the images there? it is over for him. what kind of help could he get, even in his own country? >> reporter: he does have a large extended family, his tribal network. there are people who thought that -- they believed in his vision. gadhafi's was a cultive personality and like any cultive personality will have some supporters, diehard loyalists, so i think it's fair to say that the vast majority of the country does not -- is very happy that gadhafi is no longer in power, but to hide you, look at osama bin laden, in the end it was just a small handful of people and couriers who were helping him. >> and richard, how with the

rebels and their situation and even trying to form a government, is any of this possible with the manhunt as you pointed out of gadhafi still ongoing? french president nicolas sarkozy pledgi pledging support of the new government that would be formed but this still at a stalemate status with all of the fighting still going on. >> reporter: and that's the problem. the transitional government is located in benghazi and that government has not come here yet. what we're seeing on the streets is a situation where there's increasing chaos. g gunmen are out. rebels are out firing in the air. a lot of the batles that we hear about are actually firing on to each other, firing into buildings, on to cars. there's a lot of confusion all over the city, and there are still gadhafi loyalists, and there have been clear exchanges of fire, but most of the gunfire seems to be from the rebels and

on to the other rebels, so they definitely need political leadership, and you begin to wonder why that political leadership is waiting in benghazi when this city has effectively fallen to the rebels, aside from some very minor pockets. >> richard, very quick, can you give us an update on the journalists being meld in that hotel. they have been let go. >> reporter: they were let go. no reason why they were let go. seems that the doors were open, and people were allowed to leave. and the -- that is incredibly good news. we're relieved to hear that have our own colleagues. they were very frustrated that they were detained for so long without their will. they are frustrated that they came here and missed a very important story, but this -- this situation could have ended a lot worse, and people are happy that it didn't. >> richard engel with us from libya. thanks very much. coming up. i think people come in all

different shapes and sizes and people need to realize that. >> a new children's book called "maggie goes on a diet" is causing a big controversy. some are threatening to boycott amazon if they start selling this book. that's today's gut check and tomorrow i'll be live in washington, d.c. at site of the new martin luther king memorial. msnbc will bring you live coverage of the official dedication when it happens sunday. time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. mike levesquia and brad anderson wanted to personalize the surfing experience so they started grain surf boards out of a farm in maine. customers can buy a kit and design their own boards or take a course at the farm where mike and brad share their expertise and passion. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 only on msnbc. have i got a surprise for you!

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united airlines is converting to paperless flight manuals. the company will issue thousands of ipads to all united and continental pilots. the tablets will replace the paper flight manuals providing pilots with special charts through an ipad app. >> information is clear. can you zoom in, zoom out, so lots of coolness in this thing. there's a change of procedure in chicago. typically we would print the charts, electronically, send them to our vendor who would print them and send them back to

us and it may take up to three weeks. >> the paper flight manuals weigh up to 40 pounds. the ipad weighs, well, 1.5 pounds. lucky them. they get it for free. huge news about the latest version of the iphone and facebook makes a major announcement about privacy settings. joining me now with the details on both of those stories joe brown, editor-in-chief of gizmoto.com. i read this would be a lesser expensive smartphone, maybe without all the bells and whistles, but you say? >> i think you expect both. fancy iphone 5 will have more bells and whistles for you and less expensive iphone 4-based that you can get for the less money. >> which one will be carried by sprint? >> that's what the "wall street journal" is reporting, sprint will get the iphone 5 along with the other carriers. it's a really big move. they are on verizon, on at&t. if at&t and t-mobile merger goes through and they are on sprint at the same time you have an iphone in every major carrier.

>> that's incredible. i've had the iphone for a while, and like many customers i've wondered about the at&t service related to it. >> no comment. >> because i don't want to get sued there have been questions even from apple about its relationship with at&t. >> and also just questions about at&t's network as a whole. >> right. >> you see this effect happening on other phones. the iphone has had a little bit -- right now the iphone's antenna is not the greatest engineering marvel in the world so you've got issues with that. hopefully the iphone 5 will remedy that with a new antenna design and also a better carrier. >> if you're with all the different carriers, does it bring the price down? >> you may expect the prices to stay about the same. apple sets the prices. they don't let the carriers set price. right now you have the 3gs still available for 50 bucks with contract, expensive iphone for 300 bucks and less expensive for 200 bucks. >> the one with all the bells and whistles, seems like everything is in this phone as it is, what would be added? >> iphone 5, especially on sprint, there's some rumbling

and hoping and praying that you'll see a 4g iphone that has faster speeds. not confirmed. nobody really -- >> basically don't get too excited. >> don't get too excited. >> also expect the phone to be thinner, always go down on the form factor. expect it to be faster because they will put a better chip in it and expect it to have a much better camera. >> the camera could use some work on it, for sure. let's talk about what's going on with facebook and privacy. they battled to protect privacy, but they want people to do all the sharing that is imaginable. what's this new deal with them? >> well, you know, mark zuckerberg has gone on the record saying the current state of the internet is share everything, and facebook's whole business is based around you sharing everything, but what we're seeing here is a reactive move, uncharacteristic for facebook, even though they are not saying it's a reaction to google plus, clearly doing something very similar. >> what are they doing? >> actually making it when you share a photo you have to choose who you're sharing it with, look google plus' circle, do you want to share with your friends, co-workers or poker night group or all of the above and making

it public, and facebook is building that into the front end of the experson. facebook is not a company that's had that kind of sharing built into the beginning of the experience. you usually have to go in after the fact and tweak some settings and it's been difficult and controversial. it's surprising to see them take this kind of a step. >> you did a great job. thank you so much for having me. good to see you. come up, we'll get the latest on hurricane irene. now a cat 3 storm aiming for the east coast. details on the evacuations already under way in one state. plus, the latest information on irene's track. plus, are they splitting up, or are they doing an al green let's stay together? what will and jada pinkett are saying about reports that they are separating. [ female announcer ] it's time to raise the bar

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purina cat chow helps you well-being. we're all striving for it. nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. welcome back, everyone, to "newsnation." tracking irene. some people in north carolina already getting out of town in preparation of the cat 3 hurricane. covert mission, a new report

revealed nypd police officers have been used as secret cia agents in this country for years. i'll talk with one of the reporters who broke the story. plus, lady gaga records a guess spot on an iconic tv show. gaga calls, it quote, one of the coolest things she's ever done and today's "newsnation" gut check, a new children's book about a teenage girl who goes on a diet. well, it's causing plenty of outrage. details ahead. forecasters are expecting hurricane irene to get even stronger over the next 24 hours as it carves a path through the bahamas before potentially crashing into north carolina this weekend. a lot of tourists caught the last planes out of the bahamas today waiting in long lines to get flights before airports closed and other parts of the caribbean like dominican republic and puerto rico have already been battered by the responsible. irene is 215 miles southeast of where you are right now. what's the latest?

>> reporter: that's right. it's approaching and nassau is bracing for disaster. right now locals are managing the last preparations to make sure that their homes and businesses are secured. most businesses have been shut down, especially around bay street which one of the main tourist attractions. people are getting to hotels, especially the ones who cannot leave after those long lines. many people had to stay behind. they were not ensured tickets back home sojo tells are implementing emergency plans, making sure everyone is well fed and well protected. they are handing out instructions at the different resorts for what to do once the storm hits, and if it hits to a certain degree. we've spoken to many locals as well who feel rather comfortable. i mean, people around here are used to hurricanes. they know what to do. many have their homes insure. they also have their kits for supplies and their emergency kits figured out, and then shelters are opening up their doors. here now at 6:00 p.m. this

afternoon, right now the emergency management agencies are making sure that everything is ready in the several shelters in the only throughout nassau but the hundreds of shelters in the different islands to receive those people that come from areas that can be flooded. we are expecting dangerously high storm surge so some people are in areas that are extremely dangerous, and those people are right now taken away into these shelters. authorities are trying to make sure that everybody listens and that they take it seriously, that they can even lose their lives if they don't listen so that's the atmosphere around here, although we're not feeling heavy winds just yet ilia, i understand one airline took extensive measures to get as many people out as possible before this storm. >> reporter: that's right. american airlines brought in three 737 jets which they usually don't fly down here in this region just to get as many people as they can out and back

home safely. also cruise ships changed their routes throughout the week. we had several actually marching down or parading down back to safety yesterday in the afternoon. it was quite an impressive picture to see all the people boarding the cruise ships and then taking off to either mexico, the florida keys or other safer areas. >> all right. lilia luciano from nassau, bahamas, where hurricane irene is 280 miles away from that town. thanks so much for the latest information from there. we'll keep our audience up to date, and a major investigation from the associated press sews that since 9/11 the new york police department has become one of the country's most aggressive domestic intelligence agency built with the help of the cia. all of this is raising concerns about civil liberties, and joining me now ap investigative reporter. matt, thanks so much for joining us. in your report you say that the ap interviewed more than 40 current and former police

department and federal officials. many were directly involved in the planning and carrying out of these secret operations that have gone on since right after 9/11. incredible details you were able to get. why were they so willing to talk? >> well, i think as far as the nypd goes, i think there was a feeling that this is exactly what the city needs to do to keep new york safe. it certainly our nation's number one terrorist target, and i think there's a feeling that this is necessary, and what our story tried to do is say, well, if this is necessary, then, you know, we should be able to have an informed discussion about whether -- about whether it's what we want as a policy, and, you know, after 9/11 we've had that discussion at the national level, but there hasn't been that discussion at the local level, and we are talking about our nation's largest police force, police force that got about 1.6 billion in federal money since 9/11. >> in your article you point out that the cia really want the help of the new york police department because i believe as

it was worded the cia is mostly white, but they found diversity within the new york police department and used people that are described as rakers to do their work. what were these new york police officers doing? >> right. so the cia sent a senior officer to -- to help the nypd after 9/11, and, you know, this new intelligence division at the nypd, one of the programs they created informally became known as the demographics unit, and they had these people called rakers who were essentially undercover officers of ethnic descent who could go into minority community and just blend in and hang out, and the idea is they were going to look for hot spots. a hot spot could be something like this is where you could buy explosives, and that's something certainly that the police department is going to want to know about, but hot spots could also be people or bookstores or places, you know, where somebody was in a bookstore looking at radical writings or somebody was

in the internet cafe and maybe was searching for radical websites or somebody was at a bar and cheered when they saw a report on television of an ied going on in iraq. the undercover, being the eyes and ears inside the police department inside middle eastern communities. >> but obviously, and we mentioned it before we introduced you to talk about this, is that there are concerns, privacy concerns and also, us a pointed out in your piece, since 19859 new york police department has operated under a federal court order limiting the tactics it could use to gather information, so with that order combined with the cia and privacy laws to protect citizens, this is a concern obviously. >> right. so one of the first things that the enidea did after 9/11 is they went to a judge and said we can't operate under this order anymore. we can't wait until a crime has been committed before we start investigating. we need the ability to open investigations before crimes are committed, and in the wake of 9/11 a judge agreed, and that's really opened the door to a lot of what's -- what's been

going on for the past decade. and as far as cia is concerned, you know, they can't -- they can't spy domestically. they can only spy overseas, so in a lot of ways what the enidea was doing, having cia officers oversee their collection blurred the line between domestic and foreign intelligence. >> for its part the new york police department not apologizing for this. they said, listen, it is our responsibility to do everything within the law to protect the citizens of the city seen as a major target in this country for terrorists. >> right, and, i mean, look, the enidea on the record denies that they have rakers and mosque crawlers. they say they only go where leads take them, you know, but they do say, look, we make no apologies for pushing the envelope. we're the number one target, and we have to behave that way. it's interesting there's been very little oversight of the enidea for the past ten years. when the fbi starts a program or the cia starts a program, congress has to, you know, hold

hearings and, you know, mueller has to go up to the hill and talk about it. that's not happening here, you know. congress could absolutely, if it wanted to, exert some oversight because of the massive amount of federal money that they have, and the city council could certainly ask these questions, but nobody is really asking these questions of the enidea's programs. >> and there are many questions about the profiling and even the credibility of some of the informants that could be used. there use a flurry of questions. matt, you've opened a door that i think will not be closed any time soon. this is intriguing reporting. thank you very much for coming on. >> thank you, as always, for having me. >> exactly. the fate of a former navy commander who produced lewd videos on board the ""uss enterprise"" tops our "newsnation." owen honors can remain in the video. the depiction included anti-gay slurs and his attorney argued that the press made too big of a story. navy lawyers maintained this was

a clear case of misconduct. a russian supply ship failed to reach orbit on its way to the international space station. it actually crashed into siberia. nasa says that this could cause the delay of next month's planned launch of a new crew. that means the crew currently at space station may have to stay longer. the station has enough backup supplies though to last until spring. and authorities in houston, texas, have voted to permanently turn off the red light cameras in the city's intersections nine months after residents vote for the cameras to be shut off. the company that runs the program says that cancelling the contract will mean that the city will have to pay up to $25 million in damages. and new to the headlines in the republican race for the white house. nbc news deputy political director mark murray joins me live from washington, d.c. good to see you, mark. >> hey, tamron. >> let's start off with michele bachmann. she plans to release her own health care plan. of course, she has vowed to replace what she refers to obama

care. do we know any more about this plan from congresswoman bachmann? >> we don't, tamron. this was report by "the washington examiner" and it had the campaign on the record saying they are hoping to release their health care plan. nbc news has yet to confirm that particular report, but it would start to actually put some meat on the bones of what her campaign right now has been a lot of tough rhetoric and a lot of representing the taert. it would be the first substantial amount of policy that she has put on the table thus far. of course, she said that she's wanted to repeal president obama's health care law, but she, along with a lot of other republicans up until this point, have yet to say what they would replace it with. >> right. it will also be interesting to juxtapose whatever she presents against what mitt romney oversaw as governor of massachusetts. again, another potential for these two to face off against one another on something specific. >> absolutely. you mentioned mitt romney and health care. that's been an issue that hasn't

been on the front burner for him over the last couple of months. even at the presidential debates that we've seen in new hampshire or in south carolina and also in iowa have really touched much on health care just yet. of course, that is one of the achilles heels that mitt romney might have in this whole nomination process, the fact that his health care law in massachusetts was so similar to the health care law that president obama signed into law in 2010. >> and we should note that goromry is the only candidate out today on the campaign trail. i believe he's in new hampshire there. let's transition to the vp talk which i think is amazing, some of the names coming out, but to be expected senator marco rubio who had a big speech at reagan library. what do we make of the buzz around senator rubio? >> well, the buzz is that he is one of the rising stars in the party, that he is probably on any republican presidential nominee's short list to be a vice president -- their vice presidential nominee.

the one thing that rubio said in his speech last night and said elsewhere is he's not going to be the vice presidential nominee. he doesn't want to be it. saying that and actually being able to actually turn that down if that offer is made to him are two different things and, of course, remember barack obama in 2006 was saying is i'm not going to run for president and then he completely changed his mind, so minds can be changed, but marco rubio right now is letting people know, including the media and the gop presidential candidates, that he doesn't want to be a vice presidential nominee. >> well, and you know what, he may not be, but probably didn't want to be a hero, but he's being called that after he was quick on his feet or at least quick thinking to help out former first lady nancy reagan. pretty said to see she stumbled last night. 90 years old. there's the video of what had to be a pretty scary moment there for everyone, and senator rubio was right there, so he's getting kudos for that today, mark. >> yeah. that certainly is another feather that he can put in his

cap. a rock star to a lot of republicans and saving ronald reagan is another -- another honor for him to be able to hold. >> not sure why it flashed in my head but a t-shirt from his supporters he saved nancy reagan might be coming very soon. thank you very much, mark. >> thanks, tamron. more on lady gaga's guest spot and new reports on will and jada. are they really breaking up, and the mystery behind who will host this year's mtv video music awards. courtney hazlett has the scoop coming up. first some things we thought you should make. johnny dupuis has won a party nod for miss misgovernor since reconstruction. he's first african-american mayor of hattiesburg and faces the current lieutenant governor in the general election. he's considered the underdog and when it comes to campaign ads, doesn't get much better than this one. check out this texas republican running for congress. >> i've been talking to these

guys forever, and they still do not listen. unbelievable. >> that was roger williams, a former secretary of state of in texas. interesting company there. those are things that we just thought you should know. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. and celebrex is not a narcotic.

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price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. i'm martin bashir. coming up at the top of the hour, the latest from libya as colonel gadhafi clings to what's left of his crumbling empire. where is he and what's next? the latest on irene. the latest on the hurricane swirling in our direction and that other storm facing the president when he heads home. now back to tamron. >> thank you, martin. will and jada pinkett smith, is that their whole name, fighting back against rumorses of a split, ladyga gaga guest stars on an iconic show and this year's mtv awards will be hosted by -- well, let's get the scoop. you'll have the answer to that. let's start off with the smiths. >> we weren't talking about the earthquake, talking about will

smith and jada pinkett smith, the other earthquake that took place and whether or not they were splitting up. "in touch weekly" has indeed they are separating but it took hours and hours to get any real comments from reps from the family. >> maybe they thought it was silly, could that be? >> if you want to convince people that your marriage is happy, basically went about it 100% the wrong way. will smith's son trey did treat out some of the first real information saying will and jada getting a divorce, not true at all. retweet. that's a suggestion from him, and then finally hours and hours later the couple issued a joint same that said although we are reluctant to respond to these types of press reports, the rumors circulating about our relationship are completely false. we're still together and our marriage is intact. that's short of saying they are happy and something that their fans really want to hear. people hold them up as a gold standard of marriage in hollywood.

this was upsetting to a lot of folks. >> what's also suspicious is they openly and often talk about their sex life on on every show, and when you're so open about that, what's going on here? >> precisely. so i say where there's smoke there tends to be fire with these sorts of things in hollywood and stay tuned perhaps. >> lady gaga. >> yes. fans of "the simpsons," fans of lady gaga, tune in spring 2012 to see a guest appearance of lady gag ark. she will be playing herself on "the simpsons." she was recently recording the vocals for her character. the too title of the episode is "lisa goes gaga." lisa is down in the dumps and lady gaga goes to cheer her up. that's her recording her voice. what we just saw was a shot taken from an episode last year. she was on it but didn't have a voice in it so this will be the first time that you're actually hearing gaga on "thecism sonz" and this show has had quite a cast of characters. >> this is a big deal for her.

>> a huge deal for anyone. kind of the pinnacle, okay, now you've made it. >> who is hosting the mtv music video awards? >> absolutely no one. that's fantastic. here's the deal. a lot to live up to the mtv music video award. chelsea handler was upstaged by lady gaga. a difficult thing hosting awards shows and one of the first things we criticize after the show, how the host d.they will search long and hard. mtv couldn't find anybody they were happy with. no host. so much of the show is taken up by musical performances and giving out the awards and giving speeches and that sort of thing there's really not even that much time for the host to shine. >> okay. give it a try. >> okay. a lot of scoop happening all over the place. >> that's right. >> for the very latest in entertainment news logon to scoop.today.com. follow courtney on her facebook and twitter page.

coming up in today's "newsnation" gut check, a controversial book called "maggie goes on a diet." critics say the book encourages self-hate. more on that and hurricane irene heads towards the east coast and evacuations under way for islands off the barrier islands. please stay tuned for all the msnbc updates. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language.

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time now for today's "newsnation" gut check. a controversial new children's book tackles the topic of childhood obesity called "maggie goes on a diet" telling the story a 14-year-old overweight girl named maggie. in the book maggie is bullied because of her weight. after changing her diet the pound fall off and maggie is transformed into a soccer star with a new group of friends. pediatricians and child psychologists say the story is sending a wrong message to

overweight kids. >> never use the word diet with kids because it provokes an image of do this for a little while, done and it prediction the image that something is wrong with me, i need to diet and i need to change something. i need to do something different rather than promoting healthy lifestyle. >> i think people come in all different shapes and sizes and people need to realize that. sometimes anxious kids later develop depression and sometimes they develop self-esteem issues. >> we know self-esteem issues lead to eating disorders. a recent study but the department of health and human services show hospitalizations for eating disorders increased 119 between 1999 and twitch. the book does not hit store shelves until october and some threatening to boycott amazon if the company decides to sell it. the author is defensing the book saying maggie's story is meant to enquite and have children feel better about themselves.

because the title character shows readers ways to make positive changes and how they eat and exercise. so what does your gut tell you? does this children's book help fight childhood obesity is or is it sending the wrong message? that does it for this edition of "newsnation." i'm tomorrowon hall. catch "newsnation" every weekday at 2:00 p.m. eastern. we're going on the road. we'll be live from washington, d.c. live for you on friday. martin bashir is up next. woman: hit it, mr. butters. ♪ ♪ take on me... ♪ ....take on me ♪ take me on... anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

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shop from anywhere. and are always connected. we live in a social world. isn't it time we had a social currency to match? membership rewards points from american express. use them to get the things you love from amazon.com, ticketmaster.com, and more unexpected places. they're a social currency with endless possibilities. good afternoon. it's august the 24th, and here's what's happening. gadhafi's last stand. the defiant dictator says he'll fight to the death. the rebels say their job is nearly complete. so where is he? and what's next? we'll have a live report from libya. plus, mother nature's